Stephen Knowles officially owns the world’s biggest collection of Black Sabbath memorabilia – and is “heartbroken” following the death of the band’s frontman Ozzy Osbourne
An Ozzy Osbourne superfan – who owns the world’s biggest collection of Black Sabbath memorabilia – has been left “heartbroken” by the rock legend’s death.
Stephen Knowles, 59, said he “can’t imagine life” without the singer, who died “surrounded by love” on Tuesday after a battle with Parkinson’s disease. However, the music lover, who roadied for Black Sabbath in the 1990s, praised the farewell gig – earlier this month at Ozzy’s beloved Aston Villa Football Club in Birmingham – a performance Stephen called the “perfect ending”.
Speaking yesterday from his home in nearby Dudley, West Midlands, Stephen said: “I’m heartbroken to be honest, he’s been a part of my life since I was 10… We all knew it was going to happen but it’s happened sooner rather than later. At least we got to say goodbye at Villa Park. You could see he wasn’t well but he still managed to do it.
“It still hasn’t sunk in to be honest. He’s been a part of my life for so long, I can’t imagine life without him. I roadied for him in the ’90s. It’s not glamorous, it’s a lot of hard work.”
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Over the past five decades, Stephen has amassed an incredible hoard of memorabilia worth a whopping £250,000, all crammed inside his home. The superfan spent £1,500 to see the Prince of Darkness’ farewell concert on July 5 at Villa Park.
Stephen, a former heating engineer, continued: “I did get to know all of them, the other three guys must be gutted… I’ve hung out with Ozzy a few times. The last time I saw him was in a hospital in Malibu, he’d just got sepsis.
“I went over and saw him and he said ‘what the hell are you doing here?’. That was the last time I saw him. I have so many great memories and good times with that man. The first time I went to America in 92′ when Sabbath played, it was his alleged retirement tour.
“We got to hang out with him backstage. Sharon looked after me a lot over the years. If Sabbath were doing something, she made sure I was there. They were great people at the end of day. He’s always donated to charities but he’s never spoken about it. Apparently, the Villa Park gig was the biggest charity gig of all time.”
Stephen believes Ozzy must have known he was nearing the end ahead of his homecoming concert at Villa Park. He added: “The recent rehearsals were really top secret, they were protecting Ozzy.
“He must have known, he planned this out perfectly. He got the chance to say goodbye, it’s the perfect ending. That gig, everyone was still buzzing from that gig. It’s helped soften the blow for us all.
“Being sort of in with the band, I was tipped off about the farewell gig at the end of last year. I got hospitality tickets sorted last year, I wasn’t missing that. On his day when he was on his form, no one was touching him. When he was with you couldn’t help but enjoy yourself.”
Stephen’s collection first began with a t-shirt bought from Birmingham’s Bull Ring after he first watched Sabbath at Stafford’s Bingley Hall for just £1.50 in 1977. It has since grown to include rare vinyls, t-shirts, ticket stubs, backstage passes, posters, old cassette tapes and tour programmes. He now reckons his collection will continue growing despite recently planning to scale it down.
“There’s going to be lots of things coming out now so I’ll imagine the collection will be growing. I don’t care about the value, but it all has more emotional value now,” he added.